title: Elevated levels of leukotriene B4 and thromboxane B2 distinguish chest pain of cardiac and non cardiac origin.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Myocardial infarction (MI) is often preceded by severe chest pain. The use of inflammatory markers to distinguish between chest pain of cardiac and non cardiac origin are not well reported. The aim of the study was to distinguish the chest pain of non cardiac and cardiac origin by using reliable inflammatory markers.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study enrolled 80 subjects including chest pain which lead to myocardial infarction (n=40), non-cardiac chest pain (CP) patients (n=20) and healthy volunteers (N) (n=20). Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) and thromboxane B2 (TXB2) levels were analyzed along with hs-CRP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed LTB4 and TXB2 to be a good discriminator between patients with chest pain of cardiac and non cardiac in origin. The area under the curve was found to be 0.988 and 0.925 for LTB4 and TXB2, respectively when compared with hs-CRP. The sensitivity and specificity of LTB4 and TXB2 were found to be 90, 85% and 95, 90%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The measurement of LTB4 and TXB2 levels may therefore be useful to distinguish the chest pain leading to MI from that of non cardiac in origin and for the management of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Trivandrum 695581, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Febi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kavitha
authors.forename: Seema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Panicker
authors.forename: Tiny
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Indira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000175:diagnosis; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007975:Leukotriene B4 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D012372:ROC Curve; D013929:Thromboxane B2 / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D007975:Leukotriene B4; D013929:Thromboxane B2; D002097:C-Reactive Protein